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Highlights
- Tropic Thunder was a highly controversial movie upon its release.
- Ben Stiller, the director of Tropic Thunder, has no regrets and refuses to apologize for the movie, despite its controversy.
- Jack Black had a difficult time filming Tropic Thunder, facing intense locations, grueling scenes, and even a dangerous incident with a water buffalo.
Easily one of the most controversial mainstream movies of the last several decades, Tropic Thunder is considered to be a lowlight and highlight in Robert Downey Jr.’s career. Directed by Ben Stiller, a comedy actor who became a celebrated dramatic director, Tropic Thunder had a huge effect on his transformation.
Alongside Stiller and Downey Jr., Tropic Thunder starred Jack Black, the fun-loving actor who is now famous for the smash hit song “Peaches”. Unfortunately for Black, it turns out that making Tropic Thunder was a difficult experience for him.
Do Robert Downey Jr. And Ben Stiller Regret Making Tropic Thunder?
From the moment that Tropic Thunder was released, the movie was highly controversial. Between Robert Downey Jr. wearing blackface and the use of the R-word, there were a lot of viewers who were outraged at the movie.
Unfortunately for Tropic Thunder and everyone involved in the project, it has only become more controversial over time. With that in mind, it begs an obvious question. Do Ben Stiller and Robert Downey Jr. regret making Tropic Thunder?
In 2023, a Twitter user tweeted at Stiller asking for the actor and director to stop apologizing for Tropic Thunder. In response, Stiller tweeted that not only does he not apologize for Tropic Thunder, he never has.
“I make no apologies for Tropic Thunder. Don’t know who told you that. It’s always been a controversial movie since when we opened. Proud of it and the work everyone did on it.”
For his part, Robert Downey Jr. addressed Tropic Thunder during a 2020 appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience. While talking about Tropic Thunder, Downey Jr. made it very clear he has no regrets even though his mother was “horrified”.
Downey Jr. also reflected on the point of his Tropic Thunder role and expressed his belief that a lot of people get it.
“I get to hold up to nature the insane self-involved hypocrisy of artists and what they think they’re allowed to do on occasion, just my opinion. Ben, who is a masterful artist and director … knew exactly what the vision for this was, he executed it, it was impossible to not have it be an offensive nightmare of a movie. And 90% of my black friends were like, ‘Dude, that was great,’ “
Why Was Jack Black Miserable Making Tropic Thunder?
When most people talk about Tropic Thunder, there are two actors they talk about. First, people begin the conversation about the movie focused on Robert Downey Jr. and his controversial role. From there, the discussion typically turns to Ben Stiller.
As Tropic Thunder’s co-writer, director, and one of its stars, Stiller is more responsible for the movie than anyone. Stiller’s role in the film also is controversial since his character’s portrayal of “Simple Jack” offended many viewers.
With so much focus on Downey Jr. and Stiller, it sometimes seems like some people forget Jack Black is in the movie. However, Black is one of the movie’s three lead actors, and he fully committed to his role just like his co-stars did.
Unfortunately for Black, however, it turns out that making Tropic Thunder was a very tough process for him. To be clear, there is no indication that Black disliked his co-stars or anyone who worked on the film. It was the practical reality of filming Tropic Thunder that sounds like it was torturous for Black.
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In 2019, Black sat in front of a camera and spoke about his most noteworthy roles for a GQ YouTube video. When he spoke about Tropic Thunder, Black revealed that he thought making the movie would be wonderful.
“So Tropic Thunder was a rad project that dropped in my lap. Ben Stiller was gonna do this big, epic comedy out in Hawaii. Sounded like paradise.” However, Black went on to reveal that shooting in Hawaii was anything but the breeze he thought it would be.
“And it was hard. Comedy is supposed to be super easy, but dude, the locations were remote. You’d say, “Oh, you’re filming in Hawaii, oh, that must be really chill. That’s probably paradise.’ But every day, dude, we had to get in a weird Jeep and drive over hill and dale. Like, really intense landscapes, mud spraying. For like an hour and a half to two hours, every morning.”
“You’d get out there and then get into your costume and makeup and work. And we were like, slogging, screaming bloody murder, hiking up mountains, and doing really intense scenes. But, at the end of the day it was worth it. Cause it was funny as hell and really original. But the scenes I remember the most are the ones where I felt like I was actually going to die.”
Based on what Black told Entertainment Weekly in 2008, it didn’t take him long for him to figure out that filming Tropic Thunder was going to be intense. During the first day of rehearsals, Black didn’t put on enough sunblock and he paid for it.
“I got a really bad sunburn on the very first day of rehearsals, and I was so mad and I really wanted to blame someone besides myself for not putting sunblock on.”
In 2014, Jack Black participated in a Reddit Ask Me Anything session to promote his movie Goosebumps which was coming out at that time. During that process, Black was asked if he had any crazy on-set stories with Ben Stiller. In response, Black revealed a story about how things went really wrong on the set of Tropic Thunder.
“Yeah, when we were doing Tropic Thunder, I had to ride on the back of a water buffalo, and the water buffalo went crazy and started bucking like a bronco and threw me off it’s back. So, it bucked me off and I went flying 15 feet through the air and landed between two giant boulders. Obviously, I was shaken and a little traumatized.”
During the aforementioned GQ video where Black addressed about Tropic Thunder, he repeatedly spoke about believing the water buffalo incident should have killed him. “Wind knocked out of me, but no lacerations, no injuries. Miracle, I should have died.”
Despite how freaky getting bucked off by the water buffalo clearly was for Black, Ben Stiller was completely insensitive to what he went through. According to what Black wrote in the AMA, Stiller just wanted Black to immediately get back on the water buffalo.
“Ben Stiller said, ‘Jack, can you get back on there and do it again please?’ You know, he’s one of the best directors I’ve ever worked with but, uh, there is no way in God’s good earth I was getting back on that beast. And, yeah, I hope to have him half-naked strapped to a water buffalo some day.”
